This year is perhaps seeing a comeback of a powerful vocal duo – JazzyFatnastees. Two Ladies with incredible voices. Voices that penetrate and crush the hardened hearts.

I saw them live, many years back, and they made a huge impression on me. They were humble and infamous, yet their performance was one of the best.

They had a chance to sing on a huge Jazz Festival, just as one of the many adds-on.

The conditions were unfavorable, to say at least. Imagine a corridor with a very low ceiling. Disgustingly hot, close to fainting. Stuffy. Bland. Uninteresting. The space was dense, filled with cigarete’s smoke (yes, you could smoke there at that time). And, now, the Duo was to make their gig in one of the corners.

They made it!

They filled the space with depth and structure. They made it interesting. The vibration in the air was thick, nearly touchable. The spiraling energy was there, the one that inspires for action.

Music feels like magic

Music awakens us to the truth that life is so much more than the petty details or daily struggles.

Music is universal. It reaches us at the depth of our intuitive existence. It speaks to the senses directly. It touches us profoundly and perhaps more deeply than we would like it to admit.

Music is a great mystery that begins with vibrating air. Because … music is vibration, after all, isn’t it?

Who created music?

I don’t know. Perhaps it has always been there. Omnipresent. Since the beginning of the Word.

We will hear the music

When you walk in a forest, you will hear the sounds of nature. Rustling leaves, crusting pine cones, walking bugs, flying insects, jumping grasshoppers or singing birds. Knowledgeably or not, they make an orchestral performance for you.

When you walk down a street, you will hear all the man-created sounds.Passing-by cars, opening and closing of the doors, heavy footsteps, voices of joy, heated conversations, laughing kids or barking dogs. There may also be the sounds of trams, trains, bikes, rain, snow or splashing paddles. This is a different performance.

When you close your eyes and focus inwardly, you will hear the sounds of your diligently working body: arteries, veins and organs. Hum internally the sound of “a” or “o” for a while. Do you feel how your inner parts seem to join the same vibration?

We feel and experience nature, people, machines, and structures. The music exists in them and through them. We hear music of all kinds. Then we enter the realm of harmonies between the plantes, comets and celestial bodies.

Perhaps one day we will hear the sound of the spinning Earth.Perhaps one day we will hear the music of the Spheres.Perhaps one day we will hear the sound of our own Beings.

I can’t wait to hear all these. What about you?

***

Music is neither a by-product nor a result of culture. While we think that music is being created, it is in fact creating itself through various media, be it people of talented voices, nature or instruments.

Music is a living thing, an everlasting orchestral vibration from which we filter out a combination of frequencies. Be them pleasing, uplifting or disturbing – they serve a purpose.

When you really listen

When you really listen to the music, you spend the time alone with yourself. And then, music can touch you deeply. It can bring hidden memories or open the doors you have even forget they existed.

When you really listen there is a chance you realize that you are stuck in a matrix. It may be a castle crafted from your own convictions or false beliefs. You may begin to feel that your castle is tiny dot on the whole map. There is so much more outside your assumptions. You may begin to notice how much you are beset by imposed norms. Are these your own?

Perhaps you have not been courageous enough to become yourself. To learn to appreciate who you are instead of being impressed by the greatness or authority of others. Music is there to point you this out.

Music!

Music is an elemental force. Primary force. Yes, a wild one at times.

It can make you uneasy, uncomfortable and even confused. It can easily discover when any dissonance is present in you. Music will open something up in your head and in your heart. It will inspire you to seek, explore and change.

If you listen to music long enough you will recognize how you have become fragmented and compartmentalized. Everything is interconnected. When you choose shortcuts or decieve yourself in one area of your life, all of them are affected. No exception. The false notes sound loudly everywhere. Just listen to.

Does it happen with all music? I don’t know.For sure it happens when the music is great.

To know it, listen to this piece by fantastic guys, Możdżer, Danielsson and Fresco:

When is the music great?

When it is pure and deep, coming from the abysmal yet perfect creation of the given moment. It is authentic and you just know it. It reaches you directly at your heart. It sends thrills down your spine.

In such a moment you feel secure and harmonious. Yet this state does not come from your flesh and bones but it results from your trust to delve into yourself. Yourself, carefully crafted from high energies and impressions which resonate with the sound.

There are no shortcuts in life. Music will make you aware of this.Pay attention.

There was a lovely summer night. It was hot, but no so much as during the day. The night was young and full of promises. The darkness was friendly and welcoming. The stars were shining. The wind was brushing the cheeks. Space, people and stars. A lovely combination.

– “I’m tired. I’m really tired”, said Mark. “I’ve had no break, no holiday for ages. There is only work and responsibilities.”

Mark was 30 and tired of life indeed.

– “I’ve been asking questions for my whole life, with little results. I don’t want to ask questions any more”, sighed Mark. “I even don’t want the answers any more. I want the results.”

Mark was feeling as if life was running too fast. He lost the sense of purpose and direction.

–“I’ve found answers”, said John, “… but I haven’t got any satisfactory explanation to the important questions I asked.” He sighed as well. “I hear the same ideas or generalizations over and over again. Nothing new under the sun. Sometimes I’m offered complaints, nagging or meaningless advice. And I’m lost as ever.”

John was 40+ and disappointed. His life was run by boredom and routine, day by day. He was dreaming about the enthusiasm and inspiration he used to have. They were gone for good, however. Where to find them?

– “I don’t feel like doing anything meaningful in my life. I lack contribution.” John sighed.

– “What’s wrong with you guys? It is better not to think too much”, added Frankie. “It’s probably a matter of age”, he continued. “I don’t ask too many questions. They lead me astray”, he paused. And then he said

– “You guys are quite old and therefore start to think about unnecessary issues. Questions are stupid.”

– “There are questions that you need to answer, however”, observed Mark.

– “What makes you tick?”, “What is happiness?”, “How to become successful?” asked John. “There are more important ones, as well”, he thought. “Who are you?” is an example of a truly powerful question.

–“For me it is only important how much money I have and how to make it.” – Laughed Frankie.

–“There is no money without success.” Mark reported.

–“They say that money does not give happiness…” – laughed John – “but the ones who say it either have the money in abundance or nothing at all.” He paused.

-“When you are 40, you either have the money, or you will likely not have. When you are 30, your are still hopeful, and for the 20 year old, everything is just as difficult and just as possible. Before you watch life pass.“

–“What are you talking about?” – said the old man, who had just entered the room.

–“Oh, you’ll not understand this,” said Frankie – “Just a small talk.”

– “What are you talking about?” – asked the seven year old boy, who ran happily to the table attracted by the shapes, colors and flavors. The blinking stars did their job too. They were fully visible through the window.

–“You will not understand”, said the 40+, “You’re too small. We are talking about serious stuff. Nothing for small kids.” – he added.

–“Will I understand when I become as big as you are?” asked the youngest.

–“If you become like them, you will not understand.” said the oldest.

–“So, whom should I become?”, asked the little one.

–“Stay as curious and playful as you are” – said the old men. “And never get old”, he added with a smile.

***

The conversation above is a free interpretation of this post (in Polish) by a great coach, Maciej Bennewicz.

***

Photo courtesyFe 108Aums, available under the Creative Commons license on Flickr.

How do you navigate in the digital Universe?

We live in the time of really big data. Huge. Humongous.

Only the year 2011 was estimated to have produced 1.8 zettabytes of data, which is 1.8 x 1021 bytes of data. You can read about this here. More data is being created this year. The prediction is that by 2020 the amount of data is going to grow by 50 times.

Some media statistics found on the Web claim that:

It took radio 38 years to reach 50 millions recipients.It took TV 13 years to reach 50 millions recipients.It took PC 8 years to reach 50 millions recipients.It took Facebook 3 years to reach 50 millions recipients.It took ipod 2 years to reach 50 millions recipients.It took Google+ ? months to reach 50 millions recipients.

As you see our technological progress has been super fast in the recent years. See also this post for additional mind blowing statistics.

The data

There is the data produced on the Web. What you need to realize, however, is that the majority of the data is not the content that you read, watch or listen to: text, images, movies or music, but the data supporting the content.

For every piece of the data you create online there is often the double (or triple) amount being stored. This includes details about content management, style and formatting, your system setup, data characteristics, favorites,additional images, discussions or comments, etc. On the top of that we need to add the necessary data backups, or the same or nearly the same information stored by multiple users in multiple locations.

In addition, there is rehashed information, slightly rewritten or reformatted, retweeted, pinned, liked and so on, not even mentioning 2000 spinned articles created for each individual article but submitted to different article directories. Such is a path of SEO practiced by some bloggers, marketers or entrepreneurs.

Lots of content is repeated multiple times in a slightly transformed or rewritten form. The same message is broadcasted in hundreds or thousands locations on the Web. We have already stopped taking care for the quality and novelty of the message, instead we are playing in the avenue of quantity. There is a pressure for constant publishing, chat, talk and messaging.

Digital clutter

Clutter is an emotional attachment to things in your life that not only stopped serving you, but also hinder your progress. Digital clutter is of no difference: it lives in your computer, ipod or ipad, on your cameras, CDs or DVDs, or on the Web.

Digital collections seem safe because they are not physically tangible. Yet, they take up your mental space a similar way your physical stuff does. They occupy your virtual space, limiting your freedom to move, act and think. They require your time for maintenance and make all other searches difficult.

Be it hundreds movies from your student times that you have nowadays no time or interest to watch, a music collection of thousands songs that you only listen to a tiny fraction of it, hundreds of unread emails, millions of images, pdf’s and other files downloaded while browsing the Web and stored all over the place, bookmarks to every site you ever visit and so on. On the top add thousands of people whom you follow at Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest or LinkedIn.

Digital clutter puts a strong emotional burden on your shoulders, similarly as the physical clutter does. It exists and its existence is overwhelming. Clutter multiplies fast and soon you feel emotionally in debt to answer every email, every Facebook/Google+ comment and like what others say to you.

Strong emotions are tied up with clutter.These usually are

hope or disappointment (about the things you wanted to learn from the stored programmes and files on your computer but were never able)

nostalgia (about all good times, email exchanges, friendships and lovers, letters and photos)

frustration (about the things that constantly pile up for being done sometime in the future), or

depression (about the lack of clarity and sense of life cause by the overwhelm of stuff and false feeling of responsibility to do things).

“Hanging on to things is a way to avoid change… You’ve been anesthetizing yourself with things to create a false sense of stability; meanwhile, change is going on inside and around you all the time.”

Clutter may be a symptom of a hurt you and I are keeping inside, perhaps unaware of it. Clutter may be a symptom of a decision or action that we avoid to take. Clutter may be an excuse for a change that sleeps at our door.

Let us free ourselves.

When we clear our clutter, we clear our Spirit. We make space for creativity and inspiration to flow freely. In the newly created space, our intention seeds and motivation powers start to blossom.

Clutter-free

Clutter-free life begins with you and me. It starts with the recognition that there is digital or physical stuff that holds you or me back.

De-cluttering is a process. It is in fact a simple process. You review your possessions, one by one, and ask yourself “Is this serving me now?” If not, throw it out or give it away. Find a person who will be pleased to receive what you can give or find an organization which can make good use of your donations.

If you don’t know how to start, the Clutter busting book is of great help. It provides a psychological help on the level of motivation and action. Two citations below reflect that:

“The truth is, you are equipped with amazing discriminatory abilities, ready at a moment’s notice to distinguish between what is a waste of your time and what is valuable… We’re used to being told that we don’t know what’s best for us… use your innate clutter-busting apparatus.”

“You are already valuable! There is no need to prove anything…anything you own to impress others is a waste of your time. No one cares. The past is as insignificant as old dishwater. Only keep what reflects your life as significant in this moment.”

Value in the digital chaos

There is an abundance of ideas, articles, posts and news on zillions of subjects. And more zillions are on the way. It is impossible to follow even a fraction of all the things you are interested in. The Universe is structured, yet it presents itself as chaos.

Why is that so?

Because there is lots of clutter flying around, in the form of spicy, glittery, shiny or tasty information we are easily attracted to. And such an attraction makes us loose the laser focus we have for the tasks at hand.

This digital clutter is being created by tons of tweets, news, messages, movies, songs or rehashed information, either carelessly or unthoughtfully spread around by devoted digital space travelers, or repeated on purpose by entrepreneurs or corporations. The latter may serve them as a marketing tool, branding or working towards personal gains. Just because we can share something, it doesn’t mean we should. Similarly, as we shouldn’t follow all the wants we have.

How can you find value in the digital chaos?

My view is that the value starts with us, you and me. If we want to find value in our lives we need to make choices and become selective. The same holds for our existence in the digital Universe.

However, before we are able to make informed choices, we need to freely explore multiple galaxies, planets, travels and structures in this Universe. This is necessary to gain experience, or “touch and feel” about the Universe. This may include exploration of various social media tools, Web programs, forums, discussions, news, newsletters, blogs, short movies, online shops and so on. Samples are sufficient, though.

When we couple such visits with our interests and intelligent search, soon we are able to disregard the majority of tempting tools, ideas and information. This means signing off from the things that don’t serve us. And it also means freeing ourselves from the social and emotional pressure of keeping up with the digital messaging and talks.

I believe that the clearer and more structured we are in our minds, the easier it is to find clarity in the digital Universe around. Clutter-free mind is perfectly capable of finding or recognizing the right information even on a far away digital planet.

Clarity begins with us, you and me

If you want to find structure in the digital chaos, be the one who spreads valuable messages and articles. Choose to be more with less.

Any time you want to write a post, share an information or a message, retweet, comment or discuss anything, just ask yourself

“Is, what I am going to share, useful to others?”

“Is is entertaining?”

This is the ultimate criterion: usability/practicality of the message or the entertaining value.

If the answer is NO to both – think twice, or even three times, whether you want to contribute to the digital clutter around.

The cleanness begins with you and me. We are responsible for the friendly, beautiful and clean environment, be it digital or not.